Amgen Sued Over Patient Records Campaign

Former pharma representatives suing....allegations, if true, could implicate any physicians who went along with the scheme for authorizing "marketing of medication not designed to treat their patients."....do we have a HIPAA case? BD

TRENTON, N.J. — Two former sales representatives for Amgen Inc. are suing the biotech company, alleging it pushed its sales force to search doctor's confidential medical records for potential patients to boost sales of a drug used to treat psoriasis.
The two former representatives, who are seeking lost pay, punitive damages and other compensation totaling more than $15 million apiece, allege they objected to superiors and refused to go along with the scheme, which legal experts say violates federal patient privacy law.
In addition, the veteran sales reps were encouraged to get insurance companies to approve reimbursement for Enbrel for patients with mild psoriasis, their attorney, Lydia Cotz, said Wednesday.
Cotz said her clients were instructed to go into dermatologists' offices and get permission to go through files to identify patients with psoriasis based on the diagnostic coding system insurers use for reimbursement. Cotz said sales representatives from the northeast to Hawaii have confirmed the scheme's existence.
One of the sales representatives, Elena Ferrante of Montvale, N.J., was fired in August 2005, while the other, Mark Engelman of Laguna Niguel, Calif., resigned last year after Cotz said he received a negative performance review.